Method of inserting stay strips in collars



June 17, 1952 B. LxEBowl-rz 2,601,037

METHOD OF' :[NSERTINGl STAY STRIPS IN COLLARS Filed March 24, 1951 2SHEETS- SHEET l 3M INVENTOR.

June 17, 1952 B. LIEBowlTz 2,501,037

METHOD OF' INSERTING STAY STRIPS IN COLLARS Filed MaICh 24, 1951 2SHEETS-SHEET 2 We. /a

i IN VEN TOR. Bw W16 Patented June 17, 1952 METHOD--OF'INSERTING STAYSTRIPS 1N' COLLARS Benjamin Liebowitz, New York, N. Y.v

Application March 24, 1951, Serial No. 217,341

1 Claim.

VInnry copending patent applications, Serial Numbers 190,092 and199,317, I have disclosed a lai-elastic,` structure. for vproducing a.permanent curlingtcndency which may be applied, among other things. tocollars on mens shirtsl for the purpose of opposing and therebyeliminating or minimizinglv the. tendencyl of such collars to curl awayfrom the body of the wearer.

The bi-.elastic structure disclosed in these applications comprises v acompression-.resistant element and a4 stretched elastic' element unitedto it by stitching or otherwise. The compression-.resistant element maybe made of fabric which may be' permanently stiffened or temporarilystiiiened, depending on circumstances. For example, in theapplication ofthis bi-elasticstructure to fused collars on mens shirts, thecompression-resistant member need be only temporarily stiffened if it isattached tov a part that isultimately permanently stiffened by thefusing operation. Such attachment may be made by stitching as describedin patent application, Serial Number 199,092. For' application to soitcollars, as another illustration given insaidpatent application, thesaidV compression-resistant element should be permanently stiffened soas to maintain its compression resistance after many launderings.

If, however, a permanently stiliened element is employed,A it is notnecessary to stitch it or otherwise attach it to the collar during thecourse of manufacture thereof but, instead, it may be inserted in apocket as is weli known in the industry. es. like a stay. Inconventonalco1- lars, a convenient pocket for` suchY stays has long been` used,namely., inv the space between the edge of the collar and the topstitching thereof. However, the bi-elastic strip.l is not easilylinserted since it. is a relatively iiims-y and "cu-Hy structure(compared to aY stay),A and, on that account, has proved difficult to.inserte-for example, in a completed.c ollar-top.-

The Object of the present invention is to provide a rapid andcorwenientV method for the in sertion of such bi-elastic structures intopockets in. a. collar, and, in particular, the pocket formed naturallybetween the edge of the collar and the top stitching thereof.

My invention will be understood by reference tothe accompanying drawingswhich are purely diagrammatic and distorted for clarity and which, inthemselves, contain n quantitative information In these drawings:

VFis.- lis a pian view of a conventional cenar 2 structure in which thebi-elastic strips are in dicated at the edges ofthe collar bydottedlines; Fig. 2k is a fragmentary plan view: showing a modificationoi Fig.v 1;

Fig. 3 is a. cross-section on the line Ziff?.v of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a transverse cross-section and Fig. 5 is a. side elevation ofa loi-elastic strip in straightcned condition;

Fig. 6. is a side, elevation of a piece of said strip showing itsnatural tendency to curl;

Fig. 'Tris a cross-section, Fig. 8 is aside eleva,- ticn, and Fig. 9 isa plan view of aA guide member iorinserting said bi-elasticY strip intoa collarv in` a location such as vshown in Fig. 1- and Fig. 2;

Fig. 10 is a cross-.section showingl the. strip l inserted into a pocketin a collar by means.` of the guide;

Fig. l1 is the same cross-section as Figure 10, but showing thev guideremoved and the strip left in place in the collar; and

Fig. 12 isa cross-section of' a modified arrangement adapted to insertbieelastic stri-ps which are shorter than the pocket in the collar topwhich receives said strips.

In Fig. l a conventional collar is shown having a collar top I-, acollar band I- I, into which the lower edge of the collar top is sewn.According to the usual practice, the collar top Il) is provided with topstitchingy l2. Between the top stitchingl I-2` and the edge of thecollar i3, a pocket is naturally formed as indicated in Figure 3.l whichis a cross-section on line 33 ofFig. l. In Fig. 3 the usual insideerrunning stitch is shown at I'5. The narrowV rectangle indicated by I4in Figs. 1 and 2 represents a 10i-elastic strip which has been insertedin the said pocket formed between the edge of the collar I3 and the topstitching I2. In Fig. 1, the loi-elastic strip I4 does not extend to theend of the collar top but stops short before it reaches the band Il. InFig. 2, which is a fragmentary View of a modiiication, the bieelasticstripA I4 is shown as extending all the way to the edge .Of the collartop, including the portionwhich extends into the band II.

The bi-elastic strip itself comprises a st-iiiened tape 2| which may bemade by longitudinally folding a tape of; double Width to which iS firstapplied a layer of permanent stiifening adhesive material, e. g.,cellulose acetate. The tape may be folded While cellulose acetate. is ina tacky condition and then completely dried taper-manentlyunite or pastethetwo parte of: thetepe together. A thin layer cellulose acetate isthus formed as shown at 22. A stretched rubber strip shown at 23 isattached to the folded and stiffened tape, e. g., by means of stitches24, as described in my copending application. The bi-elastic strip I4 isshown in straightened condition in Fig. 5; actually, a piece of suchstrip when left to itself will show a marked curling as indicated inFig. 6. It is this natural curling of the bi-elastic structure which isused to oppose the outward curling tendency of the collar, therebyeliminating or minimizing the latter tendency.

In order to assist in visualizing the structure herein described, it maybe remarked that the entire bi-elastic strip I4 may be of the order of1;/8" wide, and roughly 12 thick; the rubber element thereof may be inthe neighborhood of 0.010 thick and may be stretched to something like150% of its original length. The tape 2| may be originally 1A, wide andwoven so as to fold readily down the middle, thereby making a two-plytape 1/8 wide permanently held in the folded stiifened state by thelayer of laundryresistant adhesive material, such as cellulose acetate.

It will be readily understood, then, that it is not a simple or obviousmatter to insert strips as shown in Fig. 6 expeditiously into a collartop I0 which has been completely manufactured and is ready for banding.Unless such insertion can be made rapidly and expeditiously, the inser--tion method here described would not be commercially practicable. Iachieve such rapid and expeditious insertion by means of a guide 3Ishown in transverse cross-section in Fig. 7 yand in longitudinalcross-section in Fig. 8, and in plan in Fig. 9. As shown in thesefigures, the guide is an almost closed tube made of thin metal, e. g.,steel or phosphorus bronze, perhaps 0.007 thick and bent to a more orless rectangular form as shown in Fig. 7 so as to leave a longitudinalslot 32. The bi-elastic strip material I4 is inserted into the guide asshown in Figs. '7, 8, and 9, almost to the end thereof. The end of theguide itself has an extended tapered portion 3|A designed to facilitateentry of the guide into the pocket of the collar. After the strip I4 hasbeen .inserted into the guide (see Fig. 8 and Fig. 9),

the guide and with it the strip I4 are then inserted into the collar asindicated in cross-section in Fig. 10. It is to be noted that thestretched elastic member 23 of the strip I4 lies next to the bottom plyof the pocket in question (See Fig. 3) and that above the whole strip I4there are usually iive plies of collar material in the pocket, as shownin Fig. 3. The single bottom ply mentioned is shown in IIIA in Figs. 10and 11, and the five-ply as a group are indicated by IDB in Figs. 10 and11. With this arrangement of the parts a maximum inward curling tendencyis produced for a given bi-elastic structure, i. e.

vwith given rubber, rubber stretch, stiffness of tape, etc.

After the guide 3| with a strip I4 contained therein is inserted intothe pocket in the collar, a'pin point shown at 33 in Figs. 10 and 1l isinserted into the strip I4 near its end. There is no difliculty ininserting the pin point at the proper place because the slot 3?. can beseen or felt from the outside, since only one ply, namely IOA, liesabove it as seen in Figs. 10 and l1. When the strip I4 has thus beenengaged by pin 33, the whole guide 3| is withdrawn, leaving the strip I4in the collar, as shown in Fig. 11. The strip can thenbe cut off at thepoint K. The

portion of strip I4 then left extending beyond the guide 3| may then bewithdrawn into the guide so that the end of the strip I4 again occupiesthe position shown, for example, in Figs. 8, 9, 10, and 11. The guidemay now be inserted into the next pocket and the operation repeated.

The bi-elastic strip obtained in this way corresponds to the showing ofFig. 2, that is the bielastic strip extends all the way to the edge ofthe collar top where it extends into the band. More often than not, thislength of bi-elastic strip is not desirable. A preferred form is thatshown in Fig. 1, in which the bi-elastic strip stops short of the band.In order to illustrate how the form shown in Fig. 1 may readily beobtained, I show by the diagrammatic cross-section of Fig. 12 a methodwhereby the bi-elastic strip may be cut to suitable lengths shorter thanthe pocket or collar edge itself, so that when the act of insertion iscompleted, the said strip I4 will stop short of the band by anyprescribed amount.

Referring to Fig. 12, the guide 3| is fastened t0 a block 35 whichcarries a similar guide 3|B in alignment with 3 I. Between the -twoguides is a gap 36 which is wide enough to permit a knife of properthickness to enter. Below the slot 36 is a 4cutting block, e. g. of hardfiber indicated at 31; cutting 01T may be performed by means of a knifewhich cuts the tape at the slot 36 'by cooperation -with the cuttingblock 3l. For this purpose, an ordinary knife may be used or preferablya mechanically operated blade 38 may be forced under `pressure againstthe strip I4 and block 31 by any well-known means which need not beshown.

As a result of the previous cutting off, the end of the strip I4 willlie in the slot 36 as indicated in Fig. 12. A pin 39 shown at A is theninserted into the strip I4 just behind lthe slot 36 through the slot 32(see also Fig. 7). By means of this pin shown at A, the strip I4 isdrawn forward from guide 3IB into the guide 3| until the pin A is at theposition B. In this position the strip I4 is .then cut at the slot 36and then the pin at B is advanced to the position C of Fig. 12. Thisbrings the cut-off piece of strip I4 into the position required forinsertion into the collar and it is obvious that by proper Choi-ce ofthe distance from B to- C and B to slot 36 any desired length of stripmay be obtained.

The invention described above is partially disclosed in my U. S. patentapplication Serial No. 247,910, led on September 24, 1951.

What I claim is:

Method of inserting a curl-inducing strip portion of predeterminedlength cut off from a continuous length of a curl-inducing strip into anelongated narrow pocket formed in a collar and having a length which isgreater than the length -of said curl-inducing strip portion so that thelrear end of the inserted curl-inducing strip portion is spaced inwardlyfrom the open end of the elongated narrow pocket, comprising the stepsof placing two elongated rigid guiding members behind and spaced at ashort distance from each other so that their inner ends face each otherand their outer ends are located distant from each other; introducinginto said guiding members a continuous length of said curl-inducingstrip until said curl-inducing strip passes entirely `through one ofsaid guiding members and projects into the other of said guiding membersa distance equal to the predetermined length of the curl-inducing stripportion to be inserted into the elongated narrow pocket formed in thecollar; cutting the thus introduced continuous length of strip betweenthe inner ends of said rigid guiding members so that said other guidingmember contains a strip portion of predetermined length; advancing saidout off strip portion of predetermined length in said other guidingmember until its tip located in the neighborhood of said outer end ofsaid guiding member and its rear end is spaced from the inner end ofsaid guiding member; inserting said other guiding member with the cut01T strip portion of predetermined length contained therein into eanelongated narrow pocket formed in a collar and having a length which isgreater than the length of said curlinducing strip portion until therear end of said curl-inducing strip portion in the inserted guidingmember is spaced inwardly a predetermined distance from the open end ofthe pocket; engaging said cut off strip portion of predetermined lengthby means of an externally applied pin Without holding the insertedguiding member;

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,560,739 Starr NOV. 10, 19252,066,294 Lebowitz Dec. 29, 1936 2,186,356 Bihaly Jan. 9, 1940 2,423,510Liebowitz July 8, 1947

